Ron Paul wins popular vote in US Virgin Islands, but Romney dominates the delegates

Despite winning the popular vote, Ron Paul only got one of the nine U.S. Virgin Islands delegates.

After 26 losses, Ron Paul won his first popular vote over the weekend. However, the congressman from the Lone Star State walked away with only one lone delegate.

In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Paul got 29 percent of the vote, edging out Mitt Romney by 3 percentage points. Despite a Paul win, Romney ended up with seven of the nine available delegates.

According to the Republican Party of the Virgin Islands, the caucus selected three Romney delegates, one Paul delegate and two uncommitted delegates, one later pledging support for Romney. The former Massachusetts governor also has the support of the three RNC member delegates.

Some Paul supporters might be upset by this result, but to be fair, this is exactly what Ron Paul hopes to do elsewhere. Despite losing the popular vote in caucus states like Iowa, Nevada, Colorado and Minnesota, the Paul campaign believes the Texas congressman can get a far number of delegates than what the polls reflect, according to a press release issued in February.

In response to the reports that declared Romney the winner, Ron Paul’s campaign blogger Jack Hunter posted a video with a “math lesson for mainstream media,” in which he emphasized that 29 percent is indeed higher than 26 percent. (Thank you, Jack! You are correct.)

The ultimate purpose of Hunter’s video is to point out that in every other contest, most media outlets have reported winners in terms of the popular vote. The U.S. Virgin Islands is the first place where delegates were used to determine who won.

“If we’re going to start to measure it according to delegate counts…when we go back and look at who actually has accumulated the most delegates in some of these states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and beyond – and Ron Paul actually picks up more delegates possibly than what his straw poll finish would indicate, is the mainstream media going to adjust accordingly?” he asks.

Hunter continues, arguing that the mainstream media will most likely not report Paul as the winner if he picks up more delegates as the caucus selection process plays out.

“The mainstream media is trying to have it both ways” he said. “Once again, when Ron Paul does win, they find all sorts of ways to ignore it.”